Krantz’s Short-Handed No Limit Hold Em Review

February 19, 2009 by Nick Wealthall

Nick Wealthall This 2 disc set goes straight to where the money is in poker these days – where we’d all like to be by focussing on, short-handed cash games. They’re written and hosted by Jay Rosenkrantz – who is known as Krantz and plays as ‘pr1nnyraid’ online. He’s one of the most successful cash players in the game today including being winning-est online NL player in 2007. It’s clear that Krantz has the credentials to give us all the knowledge we could ever need – but is it on these DVDS? It’s also clear he already has 2 really cool nick names and I don’t even have one…I’ll try and have one by the end of the review.

What’s on the discs?
The two disc set starts with an introduction to 6 max holdem which looks at the key differences between this and a full ring game and how your mindset should change when you play the short handed version of the game. The second half of the first disc and the entirety of the second cover the concepts of hand reading – the key skill for succeeding in short handed poker.
Krantz does this by using mainly hands he’s actually played and guiding you through the decisions he made and why – and how the decisions could have been different with different holdings. The material covers 6 handed play as well as heads up play. It goes through a large amount of hands – most of which Krantz wins; I like to watch it on my computer and pretend I’m playing the hands and the money is heading to my account – its sad how happy this makes me.

What’s good about it?
I think the DVDs are very good at getting you to think in the right mindset for playing short handed poker. Especially at showing you how to think through situations in hands rather than just panicking and going into a defensive mode or going with your ‘gut’ (we’ve all done it). Krantz advocates a loose style which means he gets into some very tricky situations – most teaching materials focus on more straight forward spots so this is a pretty unique feature of the information here. Often when looking at a hand our host will also consider how the decision would have changed with a different hand in the same spot which is really useful.
The discs also do a good job of showing you how good players put opponents on a range of hands and use that to make their decisions. I know a lot of people playing poker these days know what hand ranges are but struggle to use them in their play – hearing how a top player does it should help. They also look closely at how to take the money of different kinds of players from the best (the DVDs include some hands against online legend Durrr) to the fish and everything in between.

Any problems with it?
The assumption of general poker knowledge will exclude some of you who are inexperienced at the game – however for most of you looking to beat No Limit cash games the terms used will be second nature and will find the content fascinating. Also the section on general 6 max play is good but could definitely be expanded as it’s a whistle stop tour through the key ideas.
The bigger problem with these DVDs are the lack of structure to them and the information given. There isn’t a contents screen and the hands come one at a time without them being grouped or introduced under a specific heading. This makes it tricky to go back to the discs and just get one chunk of info you were looking for. Having said that I think learning by listening to a top player’s thoughts on actual hands as opposed to dry theory makes up for this slight weakness.

In summary then…
If you’re playing 6 max of heads up cash you’re game will definitely benefit from checking out these DVDs. How much will depend on how well you respond to the way the information is presented here but there’s no doubt these discs have some great stuff on them that will sharpen you’re hand reading skills – I dare you to watch them and not to be tempted to make hero calls with Jack high…just like Krantz.

Oh and I still don’t have a cool nickname – Nick ‘the relentless badger’ Wealthall is where we’re currently at….not good.

Click Now To Buy Krantz Short Handed No Limit Hold ‘Em